Life-saving bike named after attacks victim

Ian Coates's family were presented with the blood bike at half-time of Saturday's match

A life-saving motorbike used to transport emergency blood has been named in honour of one of the victims of the Nottingham attacks.

The family of school caretaker Ian Coates were pitchside to see the "blood bike" unveiled at Saturday's match between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa at the City Ground.

It is the second time Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes has honoured one of the three people fatally stabbed in the city in June 2023.

The first was presented to the family of Grace O'Malley-Kumar in May after a charity ride was held in her memory, and there are plans to present another to the family of Barnaby Webber in the future.

Mr Coates was one of three people killed in the attacks

Mr Webber and Ms O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Mr Coates, 65, were killed by Valdo Calocane on 13 June 2023.

Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was given a hospital order for manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility in January.

In a social media post, the blood bikes charity said the attacks had left Nottinghamshire "heartbroken".

It said: "By naming our bike after Ian his legacy can live on as we serve the people of Nottinghamshire on Ian's bike, and deliver life-saving blood for the NHS."

In May, more than 100 motorcyclists and motorists took part in a memorial ride from Essex to Newark in aid of the Grace O'Malley-Kumar Foundation.

At the end of the ride, her family were presented with a new bike named in her honour.

The motorbike for Ian Coates is the second unveiled by the charity to commemorate the Nottingham attacks victims